Thank you very much. We’re stopping at Buc-ee’s: The 2024 college football season in quotes

Thank you very much. We’re stopping at Buc-ee’s: The 2024 college football season in quotes

Do you remember what life was like way back in the year 2023? It feels like a lifetime ago, but let’s rewind to a time when Nick Saban and Alabama, along with Jim Harbaugh and Michigan, were gearing up for a showdown at the Rose Bowl. Florida State was still licking its wounds from a playoff snub, and Kalen DeBoer’s Washington Huskies were one of the hottest teams in the nation.

Fast forward to 2024, and the college football landscape has been turned upside down. Jim Harbaugh has traded his khakis for the sunny skies of Los Angeles, Nick Saban has swapped the sidelines for the “College GameDay” set, and Kalen DeBoer has stepped into the pressure cooker that is Alabama football. Meanwhile, Oregon claimed the Big Ten title, Arizona State took the Big 12 crown, and SMU pushed ACC champion Clemson to overtime in the title game. Oh, and Alabama? They’re not even in the new 12-team playoff. It’s a whole new world out there.

Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and relive this historic season through the words of the people who lived it. Here are the 2024 college football quotes of the year.

Hail to the Victors

“For me personally, I can now sit at the big person’s table in the family. They won’t keep me over there on the little table anymore. My dad, Jack Harbaugh, won a national championship and my brother won a Super Bowl. It’s good to be at the big person’s table from now on.”
— Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, on Jan. 8 after Michigan beat Washington to win the national title.

Farewell to the Victors

“Jim did exactly what he sought to do at Michigan, build our program to consistently win Big Ten championships and compete for national championships. … He will always be a huge part of our rich history and will be remembered as an all-time great Wolverine, as both a championship player and coach.”
— Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, after Harbaugh resigned to take the Los Angeles Chargers job.

The GOAT Retires

“So I’m saying to myself, ‘Maybe this doesn’t work anymore, that the goals and aspirations are just different and that it’s all about how much money can I make as a college player?’ I’m not saying that’s bad. I’m not saying it’s wrong, I’m just saying that’s never been what we were all about, and it’s not why we had success through the years.”
— Nick Saban to ESPN’s Chris Low on why he decided to retire.

And You Are…?

“I’ve never worn a credential in my life. I was always, for 17 years, able to get in to SEC media day without a credential. I had to go back to the room today to get my credential to get in, so that’s one of the biggest changes I see. It’s not like it used to be.”
— Saban, laughing about being stopped by a security guard and not allowed in without proper ID this year.

“I do want it to be duly noted that I got in here without a credential today.”
— Georgia coach Kirby Smart, a former Saban assistant, in his opening remarks for Georgia at SEC media day, while Saban watched from a set in the back of the room.

All Right, Man

“Our focus is to embrace the hog.”
— Arkansas coach Sam Pittman, at SEC media days, on his team’s mantra for 2024, which he says means to “be tough, we need to be together, consistent, accountable and do it with pride.”

Pittman is high on the hog lighting at his lake house too:

Sam Pittman, yesterday, on his hog statue at his lake house:

“I can turn that hog 16 colors.” #embracethehog pic.twitter.com/7i3FmABjXl

– Dave Wilson (@dwil) July 19, 2024

The Beginning of a Bad Year for FSU

“It’s very unfortunate that they, who have a good football team and a good football program, are in the position they’re in. … They can say we had our guys and they didn’t have their guys. I can listen to all that. But college football has to decide what they want.”
— Kirby Smart after Georgia beat Florida State 63-3 in the Orange Bowl in January after a devastated FSU team missed the playoff following an injury to Jordan Travis and several players opting out.

Highway to the Danger Zone

“It’s like you’re a fighter pilot and you’ve got this jet but there’s people that want to kill you. You get to fly it, but you don’t want to die. I feel that all the time.”
— Baylor coach Dave Aranda on calling defensive plays.

Mike Gundy’s Year on the Mic

“I looked it up on my phone. What would be the legal limit, like in Oklahoma, it is .08, and Ollie was .1, and it was, based on body weight, not to get into the legal side of it, and I thought, really, two or three beers, or four, I’m not justifying what Ollie did, I’m telling you what decision I made, and I thought, I’ve probably done that 1,000 times in my life. And it was just fine. I got lucky. People get lucky. Ollie made a decision he wished he could have done better. But when I talked to Ollie, I told him you got out light because you make a lot of money to play football.”
— Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, at Big 12 media days, on star running back Ollie Gordon’s DUI arrest.

And that’s just scratching the surface of the wild ride that was the 2024 college football season. From historic upsets to hilarious soundbites, this year had it all. Stay tuned for more as we continue to break down the moments that made this season unforgettable.